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Open Book Collective

Open Book Collective
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Website (Opens in new window) Pricing Info (Opens in new window)

About

Launched: 2022
Record Updated: Oct 23, 2026
Open access or subscription management tool
The Open Book Collective is a UK-registered charity (no. 1206287) that brings together publishers, publishing service providers, and scholarly libraries to secure the diversity and financial futures of Diamond open access book production and dissemination.
Research Organization Registry (Opens in new window)

Domain Relevance

  • Generalist (no disciplinary-focus)

Mission

The Open Book Collective is a space for libraries, OA publishers, open service providers and others to learn from, network with and support one another.
We deliver reliable revenue streams to open access book publishers, most of them small and medium-sized, helping them move away from book processing charges.
We also channel new funding to the vital open infrastructures of OA book publishing and make OA books easier to integrate into library catalogues.
We support diverse approaches to OA publishing, making a more bibliodiverse range of books accessible to more authors and institutions and enhancing equity across the ecosystem.
Through our Collective Development Fund, we make small grants to emerging OA book initiatives, including those outside Europe and North America. Our website and member portal are available in German as well as English, with more languages planned.

Technical Attributes

Maintenance Status

Actively Maintained

Code License

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Technical Attribute Statements

Programming Languages

  • python

Technology Readiness Level

  • Actual system proven in operational environment

Code Licenses Used

  • MIT License

Content Licensing

  • Creative commons licenses

Standards

Metadata

  • JSON
  • KBART
  • MARC
  • ONIX

Persistent Identifier

  • ORCiD
  • Research Organization Registry
Other:
DOI

Community Engagement

Code of Conduct

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Community Engagement

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Contribution Guidelines or Fora

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Community Statements

User Contribution Pathways

  • Contribute funds
  • Contribute to governance

Community Engagement Activities

  • Blogs
  • Conference participation
  • Social media
  • Webinars and training

More About Community Engagement

User Contribution Pathways:

Apply for grants via the Collective Development Fund

Policies & Governance

Governance Summary

The Open Book Collective is a UK charity governed through a community-led Association Model, which means decision-making is shared between its member publishers, libraries, and service providers rather than held solely by Trustees. Its governance rests on three bodies: the General Assembly of Custodians, representing all members; the Board of Stewards, which acts as the Trustee board and includes elected representatives from the membership alongside library funders and independent open-access experts; and the Membership Committee, which oversees applications and adherence to OBC values.
The OBC emerged from the Copim community and, until April 2026, received core support through the Copim Open Book Futures project, funded by Arcadia and Research England. Since that project concluded, the OBC has operated independently of grant funding, sustained by income from its supporting libraries together with reserves accrued over the life of the project.

Policies

Bylaws

Implemented
By-laws (Opens in new window)

Commitment to Equity & Inclusion

Implemented
Commitment to Equity & Inclusion (Opens in new window)

Privacy Policy

Implemented
Privacy policy (Opens in new window)

Web Accessibility Statement

Implemented
Applies to Website

Governance Records

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Governance Structure & Processes

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Transparent Pricing and Cost Expectations

Implemented
Website (Opens in new window)

Policy Statements

Board Structure

  • Multi-board governance

Board Level

  • Other
The Board of Stewards acts as the Executive of the Open Book Collective, and serve as Trustees of the charity.

Community Governance

  • Formal

Additional Information

Organizational History

The Open Book Collective grew out of the COPIM project (2019–2023), launching its platform in December 2022, and was then supported by the Copim Open Book Futures project (2023–2026). Since April 2026 it has been independent of grant funding, drawing on library income and project reserves. A Research Consulting review and the subsequent Stakeholder and Sustainability Evaluation set out a costed pathway to near-full sustainability by April 2029.
As of September 2026, the OBC is supported by 105 libraries in 13 countries across Europe, North America and Australasia, and has 24 members: 21 open access book publishers and 3 publishing service providers. In 2025 its publisher members released 448 peer-reviewed books, 326 (73%) of them open access.
Recent developments include an enhanced Collective Catalogue (March 2026), built on Thoth Open Metadata’s open API; a document portal for members; and German-language versions of the website and portal.

Organizational Structure

Business or Ownership Model

Non-profit organization

Full-time Staff

1-5

Non-profit Status

Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)

Current Affiliations

The Open Book Collective is an output of the COPIM project and was a partner in the Copim Open Book Futures project (2023–2026). It is Ordinary Member of OPERAS and holds a Memorandum of Understanding with the Open Journals Collective, a sibling initiative supporting Diamond open access journal publishing. Alongside Open Book Publishers, the Open Journals Collective and Thoth Open Metadata, the OBC has committed to funding the shared infrastructure that sustains the Copim community beyond the end of the project, and it holds a further Memorandum of Understanding covering the ongoing stewardship of the Experimental Publishing Compendium.

Funding

Primary Funding Source

  • Program service revenue

Revenue Sources

  • Institutional memberships
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